It’s been more than two decades since Vancouver organizers began holding annual marches through the Downtown Eastside to remember women from the neighbourhood who have died due to violence.

Community activists Mona Woodward and Michele Pineault note there are now memorial events taking place in cities across the country every February 14.

“They’re all over Canada,” Pineault told the Straight by phone. “There seem to be more and more popping up each year, which is fantastic. It shows the support and honouring of so many women that were loved and are missed dearly.”

The memory of Pineault’s daughter, Stephanie Lane, will be on the mind of many participants this year, as organizers support Pineault in her call for convicted serial killer Robert Pickton to face another murder charge.

Lane disappeared in 1997, and her DNA was found on Pickton’s Port Coquitlam property in 2003. Her case did not result in charges.

In September 2014, Pineault was told by the B.C. Coroners Service that partial skeletal remains of Lane had been kept in storage.

“I was contacted 11-and-a-half years later, and they found it in 2003 on the farm,” Pineault said.

Pickton was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder. Twenty other murder charges were stayed in 2010.

According to a news release issued by the B.C. Coroners Service on January 28, the remains recently returned to Pineault “do not represent new evidence”.

“The remains returned to Ms. Lane’s family were fully known and identified as part of the original police investigation,” the news release said.

Woodward, who has been involved with the memorial march for more than 10 years, said march organizers this year will also be reiterating their call for a national and international public inquiry into the problem of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.

“We’ve been looking at some of the concrete changes that need to be made in order to address violence against women in general, but violence against aboriginal women and girls,” Woodward said. “Because it’s still happening out there—our girls are still going missing.”

This year’s memorial march will begin at noon on February 14 at the corner of Main and Hastings streets.

“We sure welcome anybody that wants to join us…to partake in the walk and to honour those missing and murdered women—their spirits are still alive,” Woodward said. “We’ll continue to fight and we’ll continue to advocate for our women.”